


In the Moment

by adiwriting



Series: My Home [4]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 14:23:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11465406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adiwriting/pseuds/adiwriting
Summary: Oliver knows he missed a lot during those five years away. Somehow, he didn't think kidnapping would find it's way onto that list. Really though, he shouldn't be surprised. He did ask Tommy to keep an eye on Felicity.





	In the Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Endless shout outs to Megan for being a constant cheerleader!  
> This verse was supposed to be finished... but images of Tommy and Felicity's antics kept poking me! So enjoy!
> 
> This story takes place between October 2007 and November 2012. A complete timeline of this series can be found here  
> ([Home Verse Timeline](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13304013))

**Starling City 2012**

Oliver lays in bed next to Felicity, gently tracing patterns on her body while she comes back down to Earth. They’ve been together for two weeks now, but his insatiable need for her hasn’t diminished in the slightest. If anything, he’s even more determined to come up with new and inventive ways to get her off. He sees it as a challenge, to see how quickly he can drive her crazy. Figure out how long he can keep her on the edge of bliss. How many times he can make her come. 

She’s not complaining. Her need for him hasn’t diminished at all, either. 

Felicity glances over at the clock. It’s nearly 6am. In less than an hour, the sun will be rising. It had been a long night. They’d spent a majority of the evening saving Peter Declan and Laurel from a staged prison riot at Iron Heights. Afterwards, they’d both been high on adrenaline and unable to sleep, so they’d naturally passed the time with their new favorite activity: exploring each other’s bodies. 

Oliver’s lips find the back of her neck and she sighs in content.

“You should try to get a little rest before you have to go to work,” Oliver whispers into her skin. 

She shakes her head. “If I sleep now, I’ll be even more tired. At this point, I just need to power through.” 

“We’ll stay in tonight. Get to bed early,” he promises. 

She’s been burning the candle at both ends ever since she started helping Oliver and his little crusade to take down everyone on his father’s list and save the city.  She’s hoping John Diggle comes around soon and joins the team. Maybe it’ll help lighten the load for them both. 

“Can we order Toro’s?” she asks, giving him an innocent smile over her shoulder, knowing that he’s not a huge sushi fan, but he rarely says no to her when she smiles at him. It’s one of the many things she’s been learning about Oliver now that they are officially dating. 

“Whatever your little heart desires,” he says with a matching smile. 

They lay in comfortable silence for several minutes as Felicity basks in the feeling of his hands on her body and his weight against her. It’s almost enough to lull her into sleep, but she fights it off. She knows she’ll regret it all day if she goes to sleep now. She’d learned that lesson the hard way her first night on Team Arrow when she’d gotten only 90 minutes of sleep and had a pounding headache the rest of the day. 

Oliver’s fingers make their way to the outside of her thigh as he traces over the 4 inch long scar she has there. “I’ve been meaning to ask… Where did you get this?” 

“Oh,” she chuckles, as the memory comes back to her. “That would be the infamous scuba diving incident.” 

Oliver sends her a questioning look. 

“About a year after you went missing, Tommy took me to Thailand. I guess it was his way of trying to cheer me up.” 

“Okay,” Oliver says, his voice doing this gravely thing it does when he’s trying not to be jealous or upset about all the time he’s missed. “That doesn’t explain the scar.” 

Felicity rolls over onto her back so that she can pull Oliver down on top of her and wrap her arms around him. She’s found that he doesn’t like talking much anymore, especially about his feelings of isolation and pain, but laying in her arms seems to bring him some relief. He likes to rest his ear against her heart while she runs her fingers through his hair. 

“Tommy forced me out onto a boat, determined that I would become scuba certified. He was young and naive… He didn’t know about how spectacularly uncoordinated I am.” 

Oliver snorts at that, letting her know that he can’t be feeling that upset, but she keeps running her hands through his hair all the same. 

“So what happened?” he asks. 

“I blew out my eardrum, then fell, bumped my head pretty good, and sliced open my leg trying to get back onto the boat,” she says. “I was deaf in one ear for two weeks and got 6 stitches from a quote-unquote doctor named Big Louie in what they claimed was a doctor’s office but looked suspiciously like a restaurant.” 

“Tommy didn’t take you to a hospital?” Oliver growls, and Felicity can see that he’s ready to march across the hall and have a few choice words with Tommy. 

“Relax,” she says. “It was nothing a bandage, an ice pack, and a cold beer couldn’t fix.”

“You should have gone to a real hospital,” he says, tracing over her scar repeatedly. 

She runs her fingers over his own scars and waits for him to look up at her so she can send him a pointed look. He’s one to talk. 

“Tommy should have known better,” Oliver grumbles. “He should have taken better care of you.” 

“Tommy took great care of me,” she says. “I’m fine. I’m still alive. No infections or anything. Now it’s just a funny story to tell at parties.” 

Oliver sighs deeply, resting his head back against her chest and says no more. She can tell that it’s still bothering him though. 

“What?” she asks. 

“I feel like you had an entire life without me.” 

The words tug at Felicity’s heart. Thinking back on how much he missed during those five years is never fun. 

“I did,” she says sadly. “So did you…” 

His body tenses and she runs her hands up and down his back to try and help him relax. 

“Oliver, we can’t pretend like those five years didn’t exist,” she says. “They did. And they were awful. I know you hear Tommy and I tell you funny stories from your time away and it probably seems like we were happy without you. We weren’t. Those good times were few and far between. Stolen moments between the misery. We’re much happier now that you’re back.” 

Oliver lifts his head up to look her in the eyes. “Yeah?” 

“Yeah,” she says with a smile, leaning in to kiss him. 

When he pulls away, his face is looking a lot less troubled. “So how did Tommy convince you to travel to Thailand?” 

“He didn’t,” she says with a shrug. “He literally picked me up over his shoulder and kidnapped me.” 

“He did what?!”

****

**Starling City 2008**

Felicity is sitting on her couch in her pajamas with a bottle of red breathing on the table. It’s a Friday night and she fully intends to spend the entire weekend binge watching Doctor Who and never leaving her couch.

She’s just queued up the first episode and poured herself a healthy serving when the door swings open and Tommy strolls in with a smile that just spells trouble. 

“As I suspected,” Tommy says with a tutting of his tongue. 

“I thought you were spending the weekend with Chastity,” she says with an annoyed sigh. She really thought she’d have the apartment to herself so that she wouldn’t have to deal with his judgement for her couch potato ways. 

“It’s Charity, and no,” Tommy says. “I cancelled my plans, because  _ this _ is a much more serious matter.” 

He gestures at her wildly, which is nothing new. He’s forever appalled that she doesn’t spend every weekend drowning her sorrows in the bottle with him. 

“You should call her back,” she says, but he shakes his head. 

When she pointedly ignores him and turns the volume on the TV up, he moves to stand in front of her, blocking her view. 

“Tommy,” she grumbles. 

“It’s been a year to the day,” he says with a sad look. 

“Why do you think I’m drinking?” she asks, holding up her glass in silent cheers before downing the entire thing. 

The last thing she needs is a heart to heart with Tommy on a day where she’s already feeling like she’s about to break into thousands of little pieces that will never get put back together again. 

A year ago today, Oliver went missing. A year ago, the Gambit was lost at sea and her entire world fell apart. 

She doesn’t need the reminder. She knows today’s date. She’s been counting down to it with increasing dread all month. She will no longer count his absence from her life in days, weeks, or months. It will be in years and that’s terrifying.

“Aren’t you tired of feeling like this?” he asks. 

She knows it’s not judgement. He’s not just talking about her, he’s talking about himself. 

The two of them have been going through the motions of life ever since the Gambit went down. Both of them have gone to therapy to try and get passed the depression Oliver’s disappearance put them in, but neither the therapy or the anti-depressants seem to be working. Tommy still goes out most nights burying his pain in pretty woman and she still spends most evenings on the couch pretending the real world doesn’t exist. 

Felicity lets out a deep sigh. 

Of course she’s tired of feeling like this. If she knew how to make the pain stop, she would have done something by now. But after Cooper left, Oliver was the only thing that held her together. When Oliver left, she had nobody. Tommy was there… has been there since the day Oliver left, but it’s not like they are best friends. They both stand by each other because it makes them feel closer to Oliver. But the truth is, they don’t have a lot in common and apart from cleaning each other up when their depression gets the best of them, they don’t really share much with each other. They are roommates, but Tommy is not Oliver. He never will be. 

“Okay,” Tommy says, nodding his head like he’s decided something. “That’s it. You’re coming with me.” 

Tommy moves over to the sofa and picks her up off the couch and throws her over his shoulder, causing her to shriek. 

“What are you doing?” she yells. “Put me down!” 

“No can do, Smoak,” Tommy says. “I cannot watch you spend another weekend on this couch. You’re coming with me.” 

He walks them to the front door, all the while, she’s terrified he’s going to drop her, but thankfully, he doesn’t. 

“Jesus, Smoak,” he says. “Are you sure you’re eating? You’re barely 100 pounds. I knew you were getting too thin.” 

“Let me down!” she yells at him, smacking at his back as he grabs her purse off of the table and opens the door. 

“Just relax,” he says, like it’s no big deal. 

“Tommy Merlyn! You put me down this instant!” she yells as he locks the door behind them and heads down the hall and towards the elevator. 

A few of their neighbors open their doors to see what all the commotion is about, but quickly close them again when they see who it is. 

“I’m not even dressed!” she complains, moving her hands to cover her butt, which has to be hanging out of her shorts. She isn’t exactly wearing her nice pajamas. These are the pajamas that she’s had since high school that nobody is ever supposed to see her in. 

“We’ll get you some clothes when we get there,” he informs her, refusing to put her down as they step into the elevator. 

“Where are we going?” she asks, sighing in defeat when she realizes that yelling and hitting him is getting her nowhere. Perhaps she can reason with him. 

“Somewhere where it’s impossible to stay sad,” he tells her. 

“Lou’s Bakery?” she asks. Actually, one of his giant chocolate chip cookies  _ does _ sound amazing. 

Tommy doesn’t answer her, so she keeps guessing at various places around the city she thinks he might bring her. He can’t really take her clubbing in her current attire. Even with Tommy Merlyn’s money, she’s sure no place would allow her in looking like she does. 

There’s a driver waiting for them at the curb, letting her know that whatever this is, it had been planned. He helps her into the car and gets in after her, telling the driver to lock the doors so she won’t escape. 

“Really?” she asks, unamused. 

He just smirks at her. 

“Where are you taking me, Tommy?” she asks, sitting back in the seat and crossing her arms. She looks out the window mournfully. So much for her date with The Doctor. 

“You’ll find out when we get there,” he says. 

“If you’re trying to recreate something here, you should know that Oliver never would have done this,” she grumbles. 

“Not because he didn’t think about it,” Tommy says. “He was just scared of your loud voice and I’m immune.” 

They pull up to an airstrip and Felicity’s heart drops. 

“No,” she shakes her head as she realizes his plans.

“Yes,” he says with an amused smile. 

“No,” she says sternly. “I’m not joking, Tommy. I’m not getting on a plane with you.” 

“Where’s your sense of adventure, Smoak?” he says, opening the door. 

Sense of adventure? She scoffs. She has no sense of adventure. Her sense of adventure died when Cooper was arrested. Any lingering desire to experience the world disappeared when The Gambit went missing. Felicity prefers to play it safe. 

She seriously debates making a run for it, but she doesn’t think she’d get very far. For starters, she has no shoes. She has no cell phone. She eyes her purse that Tommy has tucked under his arm. If she could get to her wallet, she could use a payphone to call a cab. There still has to be payphones in Starling City, right? 

“‘Lis,” Tommy says, seriously. “Just come with me. I promise, you’ll have fun.” 

“Tell me where we are going,” she says, even though she has no intention of going anywhere with him. 

He shakes his head. 

She grumbles. Oliver would never have done this to her. He would have asked first, and respected her when she said no. He’d convince her to take a vacation, sure, but a planned one. That she could pack for. And request time away from work. 

She wouldn’t be at an airport in her worst pair of pajamas without any shoes or luggage. 

“Felicity.” He waits until she’s looking at him. “I need this,” he says seriously. 

Well… that’s not exactly fair. He knows that she can’t say no if he’s looking at her like that... Like his entire world is two seconds from imploding and if he can’t keep the party going, then he’s not going to make it. 

Tommy is Oliver’s best friend. If he’s in need, Oliver would want her to help him. Oliver would have already been on the plane with Tommy. 

“How far is it?” she asks, knowing she’s going to have to go along with whatever insane idea he’s got. 

“It’s not far,” he says, and she curses the fact that she can’t read him like she used to be able to read Oliver. She has no way of knowing if he’s lying or not. 

“I have to work on Monday,” she tells him. 

“My name is on the building,” he says. “One of the benefits is that you get to go on adventures with me and nobody can fire you.” 

“No, they can just judge me and whisper about how they think I’m trying to sleep my way to the top,” she grumbles. 

“If you really wanted to sleep your way to the top, you’d sleep with my father,” Tommy says, making them both cringe. “Besides, we aren’t having sex. We’re just going on a trip together. Come on… live in the moment.” 

_ Live in the moment _ . It’s what Oliver used to say to her. 

The words pull at her heart painfully as she remembers how he used to say those words to her whenever he thought she was getting too into her head. 

She misses him so much. Most days, it takes everything in her just to get out of bed. When she does manage to survive another week without him, she wants nothing more than to collapse on the couch and drown out the world. Life without him isn’t right. There’s always something just a bit off. Every day comes with reminders. She still finds herself picking up the phone to call him most days before she remembers. 

“It’s been a year,” she whispers, still surprised that she’s managed to survive so long without him. 

“I know,” Tommy says sadly. “You know… Oliver used to go on these adventures with me.” 

“He told me,” she says with a sad smile. 

“I miss him,” he says, and she can see the tears in his eyes threatening to fall. 

Tommy has been every bit the mess that she’s been. Oliver had been his brother. The only real family he had, since his father is distant and cold most of the time. 

She reaches out to pull him into a hug. “I miss him, too.” 

When they pull apart, Felicity sighs. She’s really going to do this, then. For Tommy. For Oliver. 

She’s going to get on a plane with no luggage. No clear idea where she’s going. And no Earthly idea of when she’ll be back. 

They walk to the plane, where the pilot greets them. 

“I trust that you both have your passports?” the pilot asks. 

“Passports?!” she asks, feeling her stomach drop. “Where the hell are we going?” 

“To—” the pilot starts to say, but Tommy cuts him off. 

“It’s a surprise.” 

“I don’t have my passport. It’s in Vegas,” she says, not in the least bit disappointed for having derailed their plans. They’ll just have to downsize their adventure. Darn. 

Tommy smiles at her like she’s missing something obvious as he pulls her passport out of his pocket. “As if I wouldn’t cover all bases. Your mom FedEx’d it to me.” 

“You involved my mother?” she asks, smacking his arm hard. 

“Had to make sure you weren’t reported missing,” he says, taking her hand and pulling her up the stairs to the plane. “You know kidnapping is a felony. And I’m too pretty for jail.” 

“You realize it’s still kidnapping even if you involve my mother. I’m over 18,” she says. 

“Only if you’re reported missing,” he says, and she glares at him, playfully. 

“Don’t forget I can hack any network,” she threatens. “I can make sure that your cellmate is some T-Bag wannabe that makes you hold their pocket.” 

“They should be so lucky,” he says. “I’m a catch.” 

She rolls her eyes and takes her seat. 

The plane is nice. She’s never been on a private jet before. Oliver used to offer her his family’s jet when they were kids and he wanted her to come to Starling, but her mother thought that was way too much. And when they got to college and Oliver offered her the jet to go back and forth from Vegas to MIT, she thought it was a ridiculous strain on the environment. Who needs to use all the fuel to fly a private jet across the country when she was just as content to ride commerical with the other common folk?

But as much as she tries to stay humble and avoid anything too opulent living with Tommy, she has to admit that flying private has some serious perks. Like getting an entire couch to herself and a big screen TV that already has Doctor Who pulled up. 

She smiles at Tommy and he winks at her. 

“Enjoy your date with The Doctor. You’ve got enough time for a whole season.” 

An entire season of Who. Just where were they going? 

****

Felicity wakes up to the lights in the cabin coming back on as their flight attendant, Ashlyn, informs her that they are getting ready to land. She rubs her eyes as she tries to wake up. They’ve been in the air for nearly 18 hours by now and Felicity’s body is having a hard time adjusting. She has no idea what time it is back home or what time it is… wherever they are now. 

“Where are we?” she asks, glancing across the aisle to see that Tommy is passed out. 

“We will be landing in Phuket in about forty five minutes.” 

“Phuket,” she says with a nod, as the fog in her head starts to clear and she processes what she'd just been told. “Wait… Phuket. We’re in Thailand?” 

“We will be shortly,” Ashlyn says with smile. “Can I get you anything before we start our descent?” 

Felicity shakes her head and turns to look out the window. The moon is still out so she can’t see much of the land, but the lights look pretty from up here. She can just barely make out the ocean as it reflects the moonlight. She can’t help but feel a flutter of excitement, despite her earlier reluctance. She’s never been out of the country before apart from a short road trip to Mexicali back in high school. Plus, a trip to the beach wouldn’t be the worst thing to keep her mind off of things. She can’t remember the last time she had so much as a tan line, let alone visited a beach. 

“Guess the secret is out,” Tommy says, sliding out of his seat and next to her on the couch. 

She smiles back at him, unable to contain her excitement. “We’re in Thailand!” 

“Somebody’s changed their tune,” he says with a laugh.

“Well you didn’t tell me we were going to Thailand,” she says, turning back to the window to look out. 

“If I had, you still would have protested,” Tommy says. “You’re allergic to fun. I have to drag you to go anywhere that isn’t work.” 

“I’m here, aren’t I?” she says. 

“Because I dragged you here,” he teases. “When we land, we’ll go to the hotel for a few more hours of sleep since it is just barely 4am here. But when we wake up, we’re going to go to the elephant sanctuary.” 

“Elephants?!” she asks, looking up at him hopefully. 

Elephants are her favorite animals in the world. She still has memories of when her father used to work at The Mirage and he would take her to see the elephants there. It’s one of the only happy memories she still has of him. The hotel has since retired the elephants and as happy as that makes Felicity for their sake, a part of her was sad to see one of the only remaining connections she had to her dad slip away. 

“Oliver once told me you were obsessed with them,” Tommy says. “The idiot was trying to buy you an elephant for Hanukkah, but his mom wouldn’t let him.” 

Felicity laughs at that. She remembers Oliver calling to tell her that very story back when she was a freshman and Oliver felt the need to apologize and explain why he’d only gotten her a stuffed elephant instead. Nevermind the fact that the stuffed elephant was actually the gift from an elephant sanctuary sent as a thank you for adopting a real elephant named Tukari who’d been rescued from a rundown zoo. There was no ‘only’ about a gift like that. 

“She was rightly concerned that I wouldn’t have anywhere to put it,” Felicity said. “And apparently appalled when Oliver said they could keep it at the mansion and I would come and visit it.” 

“Which do you think appauld her more: You visiting or having an elephant as a pet?” Tommy asks. 

“It was probably pretty equal,” she says, rolling her eyes. 

Though, to be fair, Moira hasn’t always hated her with as deep a passion as she does now. She’s never liked her, but ever since she found out about the voicemail that Oliver left Felicity before getting on the Gambit, Moira has been out for her blood. 

“He was so in love with you, I don’t know how you didn’t see it,” Tommy says with a smile.

He means well, but the comment just reminds her of all the time she lost. Of what could have been… If only she’d gotten on the boat with him... If only she’d told him about her feelings earlier… If only she’d stopped him from getting on the boat… Her life is a never ending cycle of what ifs. 

“Yeah,” she says, suddenly feeling all the excitement slip away as she remembers what today is. 

“We’re going to find him,” he says. 

“It’s been a year,” she says. 

She’s trying her best to keep up the optimism, but the longer he remains missing, the harder it is to believe he’s still out there somewhere. And the less she wants to. If he did manage to survive, what kind of life is he living? If he were anywhere civilized, he would have been able to find his way back home. Reach out for help. Something… If he’s alive, that means he’s probably deserted on an island somewhere like Tom Hanks in Castaway. 

And what kind of life is  _ that _ ? 

“We won’t stop looking,” Tommy says. 

She shakes her head. 

No. They’ll never stop looking for Oliver. Not as long as there’s a chance he’s still out there and needs their help. 

“So what are we going to do after elephants?” she asks, trying to bring the mood back around. This trip is supposed to be helping them feel better, not make them more depressed. 

“I’ve got two full weeks planned,” he says. 

“Two weeks?! Some of us have jobs,” she says. Instantly thinking of all the work she’s going to be missing out on. 

“Relax. My dad knows where you are. He won’t fire you. You’re the most productive person on that team and everyone knows it,” he says. “He’d be an idiot to let you go. You’d just walk right over to their competition and then they’d be really screwed.” 

She rolls her eyes. Tommy is no different from Oliver in some regards. They both seriously overestimate her worth. Tommy still thinks she’s a genius because she set up their WiFi in the apartment without having to call anyone. 

Of course, she  _ is _ a genius, but setting up WiFi isn’t why. 

“I’ve rented a private boat for island hopping. I booked you some museum tours, since you’re a nerd. I’ll be at the beach. We’re both going to do the night life. Get scuba certified. Zip line. The works.” 

“I’m sorry. Scuba certified?” she says, hoping she’d heard him wrong. 

“Yes. I’m doing elephants for you. We’re doing scuba for me. Ollie and I were supposed to get certified over Christmas in the Philippines, and… well…” 

Felicity sighs. Well she can hardly say no now, even though she can already tell that going scuba diving is just tempting fate. She is far too uncoordinated for something like that. She’s bound to do something wrong and get eaten by a shark or something. 

“Relax. I won’t let anything happen to you,” Tommy says. “Oliver gave me strict instructions before he left to take care of you, and he’ll kill me if he finds out I ever got a single scratch on you.” 

“You say that like I’m a Maserati.” 

“Hardly. A Maserati I could fix,” Tommy says. “I can’t buy a new Felicity Smoak.” 

Felicity rolls her eyes. She’d argue his point, but she knows Oliver well enough to know that Tommy’s not exaggerating. He’s a bit of a caveman in some ways. He probably would kill Tommy if anything ever happened to her. 

****

**Starling City 2012**

Tommy comes out of his bedroom to find Oliver at his kitchen table eating breakfast and looking at something on Felicity’s tablet. He’s surprised to see him here, since Felicity should already be at work. Not that he’s not happy to see his friend. Ollie’s been back for about a month, but Tommy still feels like he’s going to wake up at any moment and find out this has all been a giant hallucination. 

“Good morning,” Tommy says. 

“Morning,” Oliver responds, distracted by whatever he’s doing on the tablet. 

Tommy glances over Oliver’s shoulder on the way to the kitchen to see what he’s looking at. He’s surprised to see him skimming through Felicity’s Facebook profile. He’s always hated social media. 

Tommy starts the coffee maker and helps himself to one of the pieces of bacon Oliver cooked. 

“You two got in late,” he comments as he leans back against the counter and waits for his coffee to finish brewing. He’d been out with some friends last night and when he’d gotten in around 2am, nobody was home. He’d suspected they’d just spent the night at Oliver’s place, but he’d heard them talking earlier this morning when Felicity was getting ready for work. 

“Felicity has been helping me work at the club,” he says, finally putting the tablet down. 

“You’re asking Felicity for advice on opening a nightclub?” Tommy says, amused. “I love our girl, but I doubt she has any good advice on how to make a nightclub successful.” 

“No,” Oliver says with a laugh. “But she knows how to put together a business plan and a budget. I need to show my mother that I’m working on a legitimate business so she’ll stop pushing me to come work at QC.” 

“Ah, numbers and budgets. Zero fun. That sounds more like Felicity,” Tommy says, grabbing his cup of coffee and a few more pieces of bacon before sitting down at the table. 

“I don’t know, it looks like you’ve had a lot of fun with Felicity,” Oliver says, pushing the tablet towards him so that Tommy can see the picture he’s pulled up. It’s the one of the two of them at the elephant sanctuary in Thailand. 

Tommy smiles at the memory. It’s one of the few happy times he can remember during Oliver’s five long years away when everything went to hell. 

“We’ve had our moments,” he says. “I brought her to Thailand back then to help her forget about the fact that you’d been gone for a year. I remembered you’d said she liked elephants, so...” 

He gestures to the picture, as it says it all. Apart from the day Felicity had bought that new geeky supercomputer or whatever it was, he’s never seen her more genuinely excited then the day she’d touched an elephant. Even when Oliver had returned, there’d been enough fear and anxiety over seeing him after so long to dampen her excitement. 

“She used to be obsessed with them,” Oliver say. “Don’t you remember when she first moved here and her wardrobe was like 90% elephants?” 

“Only you remember that kind of stuff,” Tommy says. “Which is why you’re dating her and I’m just the obnoxious best friend.” 

“Yeah,” Oliver says with a sigh, looking off to the distance, lost in thought. 

Tommy doesn’t know what happened to Oliver during those five years away. It’s easier to joke about him being a castaway than it is to think about the reality that his friend had to face. But there are times where it’s clear that Oliver isn’t the same guy that he was when he left. He’s a lot quieter now. More pensive. 

Tommy doesn’t know what to say to him when he gets like this. 

“You’re her best friend now,” Oliver says, sounding sad. 

“I was a poor replacement for you,” Tommy reassures him. 

“I’m glad that you both had each other.” 

Tommy sends him a doubtful look. He doesn’t seem that thrilled about how close Felicity and him are. He’s gotten the impression a few times that Oliver is tempted to throw him through a window whenever Tommy gets too close to Felicity. There was a particularly memorable moment last week when Tommy commented on how Felicity’s ass looked in one of her dresses, that Tommy thought Oliver may actually do it. His glare was so intense that Tommy thought it’d probably scare off even the Hood Guy that’s running around Starling. 

Oliver’s always been a jealous guy when it comes to Felicity. Tommy still remembers the night Oliver found out Felicity lost her virginity their senior year of high school — it had been Felicity’s first year in college since she’d graduated early. Tommy had to talk Oliver off the ledge and convince him not to skip school and hop the first plane to Boston to defend her honor. After all, having sex was something college kids did all the time — that the two of them had been doing regularly for a few years — and Oliver was going to have to either man up and confess his feelings for her or get used to plenty more stories about Felicity hooking up with other guys. 

“I am,” Oliver says, nodding like he’s trying to convince himself. “I was all alone on that island and I know what it’s like to be lonely. I wouldn’t have wanted that for you both. Sometimes, it’s just hard to know that the world kept spinning without me.” 

“Not because any of us wanted it to,” Tommy says. “There were many days that the only thing that got me out of bed was that promise you had me make before you left to look after Felicity.” 

“Thank you.” 

Tommy shakes his head. “You don’t have to thank me for that. She’s been way better for me than I’ve ever been for her.” 

“I doubt that’s true,” Oliver says with a sad smile. “You’re a good friend, Tommy. And she needed somebody that was going to make sure she didn’t spend her life stuck behind a computer screen.” 

Tommy nods his head in agreement. Felicity is too serious for her own good a lot of the time. If he didn’t drag her out of the house, she’d probably never leave it. Of course, now that she’s dating Oliver, she’s spending fewer nights at home on the couch. 

“I know I’ve said this to Felicity, but I wanted to tell you, I’m really glad you guys finally got your act together.” 

“Me, too,” Oliver says with a smile and the largest heart eyes that Tommy’s ever seen. “Felicity’s amazing… What about you? Seeing anyone?” 

Tommy’s thoughts immediately go to Laurel, but he quickly shakes his head. Oliver still doesn’t know about Laurel. Tommy doesn’t know how to bring it up. He’s not even sure if there’s a reason  _ to _ bring it up anymore. Laurel won’t give him the time of day. 

Tommy had seen her last week at Poison when he’d gone out with some of his friends — He’d originally planned on going with Oliver as ‘research,’ but he’d ditched Tommy in favor of a quiet night in with Felicity. Tommy’d talked with Laurel for a little bit, but she hadn’t budged. Normally, she’d tell him that they were over, but after enough talking and hanging out, she’d change her tune. This time is different. This time, he’s worried they may be done for good. Finished before they ever really got a chance to get anywhere. 

“You’re not seeing someone or someone isn’t seeing you?” Oliver asks with a knowing look. 

Tommy’s heart sinks as he realizes that Oliver already knows. 

“Who told you?” 

“Nobody had to tell me,” Oliver says. 

Of course they hadn’t. Oliver knows Tommy better than anyone else in the world. Or, at least, he had. Why had he ever thought he’d be able to keep this a secret from him? 

“I’m sorry,” Tommy says, feeling awful. “It never should have happened. I know that you were with her before you left and me being with her violated our friendship in about 50 different ways.” 

“Tommy,” Oliver cuts him off. “I was dead.” 

“You weren’t,” Tommy says, shaking his head. He can’t allow Oliver to let him off the hook for this one. He’s always known how wrong it was for him to even look at Laurel, let alone fall in love with her like he has. 

At first, he was just seeking her comfort on the nights that he didn’t think he’d be able to stay clean. Having sex with her was bad, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as falling off the wagon would have been. At least, that was how he justified it to himself. But all too soon, he’d fallen in love with Laurel and being with her became more addicting than any narcotic had ever been. 

Still. It was wrong and he shouldn’t have done it. He’s a horrible friend. 

“Laurel and I… I never should have been with her,” Oliver says. “I was in love with Felicity and it wasn’t fair to Laurel. She deserves better. If that’s you, then I’m happy for you guys.” 

“It’s not me,” Tommy says. “I’m not good enough for her… I want to be, but I’m not. Which is why she won’t give me the time of day anymore.” 

Oliver looks pensive for about a minute, before he sighs deeply. 

“You know Felicity gets insecure sometimes about the amount of women I’ve been with,” Oliver says. 

Tommy nods. He knows this. She’s told him as much when she’s asking his advice about what to wear on a date or begging for tips on how to keep Oliver’s attention. As if she needs any tricks. She’s had Oliver’s full attention since the day she stepped onto the playground in first grade. 

“You and I… We haven’t given women a lot of reason to trust us,” Oliver says. “So you can’t really blame them for questioning our commitment to them. As Laurel has informed me, I’ve caused her a lot of pain. She’s probably just worried about getting hurt.” 

“What do I do?” Tommy asks. “I’m serious about her, Ollie. More serious about her than I’ve ever been about anyone or anything.” 

“Have you told her that?” he asks. 

“I’ve tried. She doesn’t believe me,” he says with a shrug. The situation is hopeless. 

“Then keep trying. Once she sees that you’re not giving up… That you’re serious, she’ll come around.” 

“You think so?” he asks, perking up. Oliver has known Laurel for a long time. If he thinks there’s hope, maybe there is. 

“You’re a good guy, Tommy,” Oliver says. “Once she’s able to see past the public face of Tommy Merlyn, she’ll come around.” 

“Hopefully sooner rather than later,” Tommy says. “I haven’t had sex in weeks trying to prove I’m good enough for her. It’s getting to be a sad state of affairs.” 

Oliver laughs. “I probably wouldn’t lead with that when you talk to her.” 

Tommy shakes his head. No. Oliver is probably right. 

He’s also probably complaining to the wrong person. Oliver spent 5 years alone on an island. Up until recently, he’d gone a  _ lot _ longer than a few weeks without getting laid. 

Tommy takes their plates and mugs to the sink and rinses them out before putting them in the dishwasher. 

“Did you have any plans for the day?” Tommy asks once he’s all done cleaning up the kitchen. 

Oliver shakes his head. 

“Perfect,” Tommy says. “It’s been getting way too serious in here. Let’s go see what kind of trouble we can stir up.” 

“So long as you let me drive,” Oliver says, standing up and pulling his keys out of his pocket. 

As they are walking to the car, Oliver turns to him with a mischievous smile. 

“What?” 

“Felicity told me about scuba diving,” he says and Tommy’s stomach instantly sinks. 

If Felicity told him about scuba diving, he knows that Tommy’s the reason Felicity almost went deaf, busted open her leg, and nearly cracked open her skull. 

“Listen, Ollie… I can explain…” 

“No explanation necessary,” Oliver says. His tone sounds like it’s no big deal, but his face says the opposite. 

“Ollie—” 

“Nope,” Oliver cuts him off. “Don’t worry about it.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Tommy says in disbelief, trying to figure out just how mad Oliver actually is about what is now called ‘The Infamous Scuba Diving Incident.’ 

“Yeah. It’s fine. Accidents happen,” Oliver says, brushing him off with a wave of his hand. 

“Right, accidents happen,” Tommy says, nodding along. There’s no way he’s getting off that easy. Is he? “That’s all it was. An accident. Felicity is prone to those.” 

They get in the car and Oliver turns to look at him. “Oh, but Tommy?” 

“Yeah…” he says slowly, waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

“What is it they say? An eye for an eye?” he says with a laugh that makes Tommy’s blood run cold. 

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

“Do I want to know?” he asks, tentatively, knowing Oliver won’t ever truly hurt him, but that doesn’t mean much. There are far worse things he can do to get even with him. 

Well, fuck. 

Oliver’s laugh isn’t making him any more relaxed. 

“When I do get you back… and rest assured, I will,” Oliver says. “You’ll never see it coming.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated!


End file.
